Day 3 Tokyo
We rose early as we had booked a small tour to Mount Fuji.
Breakfast for me was again a bit eclectic with my plate filled with yoghurt,
soy burgers, a jam roll, a kiwi fruit and coffee. Yes, Johnny had the sensible
cereal followed by 2 pain-o-chocolat. We also took a couple of juice boxes and
some matcha cake for snacks on the bus.
It was a short walk to the meeting point, where our guide
Fuji met us and 5 other tourists (two Americans, a Canadian and two Western
Australians). Getting out of the city we took a roundabout route as it was a
working day and the roads were heavily loaded with traffic. Coming into the
city we passed quite a few police transport busses with lights flashing. They
could have been prisoner transport. After a while, the traffic thinned out and
the freeway took us through a series of convulsing green hills and out into the
countryside. It was quite a long trip out, but Fuji kept up the conversation
with us and soon we got to know a little bit more about her and the other
passengers.
We pulled into the park of the Fujiyoshida War Memorial.
There were five shrines built to ward off any further eruptions of Mount Fuji,
which had devastated the area in the past. The guide gave us 15 minutes to climb
the 299 steps to the lookout at the top. We needed everyone of those 15
minutes. Johnny and I opted for the longer slope rather than the steps, saving
our old knees for the rest of the trip. When we got to the top we could look
past the war memorial’s pagoda roof to the humble sprawl of the town below. Annnd…
we had 15 minutes to make it back to the base and the waiting bus. It was quite
a workout and we weren’t the last ones to make it back.
The weather was warm enough but the sky was overcast and
there was the odd sprinkle of rain, but nothing too dramatic. After another 50
minutes we arrived at Lake Kawaguchi. There was a sprawling garden with some
beautiful flower plantings and of course a café and souvenir shop. It was nice
to walk about and stretch our legs. Fuji would have been a great aide to take
on a school excursion. She was knowledgeable, organised and kept us on
deadline. The clouds were rolling in and the distant sight of Mount Fuji was
nowhere to be seen, but we still had a couple of hours to go so no biggie, or
so we thought.
We piled into the bus and being good people we offered our
front row seats to anyone who wanted them, The two tall Aussies, leapt at the
chance of snagging the extra legroom. The next leg was a fifty minute drive up
a twisting, increasingly misty road up the mountain to Station 5 where the hikers set off to climb to the
summit of Mount Fuji. There was a brief blue sky respite as we climbed higher
and looked down on the clouds, but as we arrived at the fifth station, the mist
was thick and a light rain had set in. No sight of Mount Fuji today, but lunch
in the café was tasty.
We didn’t see Mount Fuji but we did see a lot of Japanese
countryside and I was surprised at how heavily wooded the land was. There was
so much land but it couldn’t be farmed or built on.
From here we headed to the Eight Ponds are in the region of
Mount Fuji, at Oshino. A little village of food and souvenir shops had sprung
up around the ponds and the waterwheel. Try as she might, Fuji struggled to
make the ponds sound interesting and instead, Johnny and I went for a coffee
and a walk through the nearby village.
Then we turned for home and the conversation turned to
politics. Inevitably there was a lot of comment on the appalling state of
American politics. I could only agree and turned for solace to the ABC podcasts
and snoozing.
By the time we arrived home, the evening had drawn in and
the brightly lit restaurants beckoned. On our ramble, we had seen a nearby cosy
looking restaurant that served Wagyu beef, and tried our luck even though we
hadn’t booked. They did have a table for two but we were up against the
language barrier at first. Did the steak come with sides? Google translate
helped and we ordered grilled eggplant and rice. That and an entrée of battered
prawns with mayonnaise was ordered. The beef was so tender and we made short
work of the meal before taking a walk back to the hotel through the main streets
of the Ginza. The streets were boiling with people and the shops were still
open and adding to the excitement. Tokyo is a hell of a place!
It was another lovely day, and made even more so by the news that Britt had not only survived the babysitting, but that the kids had had a wonderful time. Well done Brittles!
